Social Structure, Social Stratification and Social Mobility
Social structure
Social structure refers to the relatively enduring pattern of social relationships, positions and institutions that shape action. Candidates should be able to explain status sets, role sets, groups (primary versus secondary, in-group versus out-group, reference groups) and social networks. Structure is constraining but not deterministic; agency matters.
Stratification
Stratification is the hierarchical ranking of categories of people with unequal access to valued resources. Know the three classic dimensions: class (economic position, achieved, open), caste (ritual purity, ascribed, closed) and estate/status (legal order). Understand slavery, caste, estate and class as historical systems of stratification, and the distinction between open and closed systems.
Theories
Functionalist accounts (Davis and Moore) argue stratification is necessary for allocating talent to important roles; conflict accounts (Marx, Dahrendorf) stress power and exploitation; Weber combines class, status and party. Know absolute versus relative poverty, and the culture of poverty debate.
Mobility
Vertical mobility is up or down the hierarchy; horizontal is sideways. Intragenerational mobility occurs within a lifetime; intergenerational between generations. Structural mobility results from changes in the occupational structure; exchange (circulation) mobility from reshuffling. Note that high rates of upward mobility can coexist with persistent inequality.
Traps and rule of thumb
Do not equate class with income alone, or caste with class. Remember that mobility measures movement, not equality. A useful rule: ask whether the system is open or closed, then whether movement is up, down, or sideways, then whether it is within or across generations.